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The story goes like this: A curious, and perhaps skeptical, idolater approaches Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai, a renowned Jewish sage. He's puzzled by the ritual of the Red Heifer (Para...
This week, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah 19 that touches on exactly that feeling, exploring a moment of high diplomacy – or rather, a diplomatic bric...
To a fascinating exploration of just that, drawing from the ancient wisdom of Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers. Our starting point is the ...
The Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, certainly did. We find ourselves in the book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, specifically chapter 21, verse 4: “They traveled from Hor Mountain ...
The Book of Numbers, in the Bamidbar Rabbah, grapples with this very question when describing the plague of fiery serpents. "The Lord sent the fiery serpents against the people, an...
A quote from (Numbers 22:2): "Balak son of Tzipor saw all that Israel had done to the Emorites." This sets the stage for a larger discussion about divine justice and fairness. "Bal...
It sounds like something straight out of a fantastical tale, but it's at the heart of our story today, found in Bamidbar Rabbah 20. We’re diving into the episode where Balak, king ...
The story, as it unfolds in the Book of Numbers, centers on Balak, king of Moab, who is terrified by the approaching Israelites. He hires Bilam, a non-Israelite prophet known for t...
He was a non-Israelite diviner, a kind of prophet, hired to curse the Israelites as they approached Moab. But the story takes a twist, doesn't it? Let's look at the moment when God...
The verse tells us, "God's wrath was enflamed because he was going, and the angel of the Lord stood on the way as an impediment to him, and he was riding on his donkey, and his two...
The scene opens with Balak, the king of Moab, terrified by the Israelites. He’s hired Bilam, a non-Jewish prophet known for the power of his blessings and curses, to, well, curse I...
It's one of those biblical tales that's just packed with odd details, and the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) had a field day unpacking it all. We find a f...
The story of Bilam, found in the Book of Numbers, is one wild ride. But the real juicy stuff? It's in the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bamidbar Rabbah, ...
We find ourselves in the book of Numbers, with Balak, the king of Moab, terrified of the Israelites. He hires the sorcerer Bilam to curse them. But, as we soon discover, things don...
Our tradition teaches us that each individual is unique, a world unto themselves, with their own distinct ruach (spirit) and temperament. And it’s precisely this understanding that...
Sometimes, it really was – especially when it came to dividing the land of Israel among the tribes. But this wasn't just some random drawing. Oh no, this involved divine interventi...
This is the complex and very human story bubbling beneath the surface of (Numbers 27:17), "that the congregation of the Lord will not be like a flock that has no shepherd." It's a ...
It's not about being stingy, but about creating a sense of progression, a journey. Believe it or not, we find a hint of this idea in the book of Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically in se...
The philosopher's challenge cuts right to the heart of things. He essentially says, "Your God is impressive, sure, but didn't He have a little help? All that…stuff…the emptiness, t...
We're diving into the very beginning, folks. The second passage of Bereshit Rabbah, the great rabbinic commentary on Genesis. It all starts with that famous line: "The earth was em...
It sees echoes of the very first moments of creation rippling through time, playing out in the lives of individuals and entire generations. Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon, in Bereshit Rabb...
The Rabbis certainly did. In Bereshit Rabbah, an expansive collection of Rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, we find a fascinating take on the very first verses, conne...
We look up, we see them... but where are they situated in the grand scheme of the cosmos? Well, according to Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of Rabbinic interpretations of ...
Our Sages pondered this very idea. Rabbi Levi, in Bereshit Rabbah 6, shares a profound thought: There are three things whose sound, whose impact, travels the entire world, and yet ...
We often think of creation as a grand, sweeping act, but Jewish tradition also delves into the nitty-gritty details, the almost-missed deadlines, and the "oops, we'll get to that l...
The passage opens with that foundational verse, (Genesis 1:26): "And God said: Let us make Man in our image, in our likeness, and let them dominate…” But what does it mean? Rabbi Y...
We might swat them away without a second thought, but according to the Rabbis, even these creatures have a purpose. As we find in Bereshit Rabbah, even these so-called "superfluous...
The scene: Rabbi Akiva, a towering figure of Jewish wisdom, is being interrogated by the wicked governor, Tinneus Rufus. Rufus, dripping with imperial arrogance, poses a deceptivel...
It might just be written in our origin story. Think about the very beginning. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Bereshit Rabbah, that incredib...
In Bereshit Rabbah, one of our most beloved collections of Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) – stories that expand upon the Hebrew Bible – we find a fascinating perspectiv...
We often take it for granted, but Jewish tradition actually elevates it to something incredibly profound. The ancient rabbis pondered this a lot, and in Bereshit Rabbah, a collecti...
The ancients certainly did. Take clouds, for example. We see them drift across the sky, maybe bringing rain, maybe just shading the sun. But did you know that the rabbis saw in clo...
It turns out, the answer isn't so simple. Our sages debated this very point, delving into the nuances of the first rain of the season versus the last. Rabbi Yosei, quoting Rabbi Ye...
The Torah tells us, "The Lord God formed the man of dirt from the ground and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). But what...
The ancient rabbis grappled with this question, and their answers, tucked away in texts like Bereshit Rabbah, offer a fascinating glimpse into the human condition. The passage in B...
The ancient rabbis certainly did! And they wrestled with these questions in fascinating, sometimes mind-bending ways. One such exploration comes from Bereshit Rabbah 14, a section ...
The verse we're focusing on is from (Genesis 2:7): "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground [adama], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became ...
Jewish tradition delves deep into this question, offering a layered and fascinating perspective on the human soul. It's not just one thing, you see. According to Bereshit Rabbah, a...
We often picture it as a divine spark, a breath of life. But the ancient rabbis, wrestling with the very same questions millennia ago, explored some surprisingly earthy possibiliti...
In fact, our sages wondered about that very thing way back in the book of Genesis! We find it in (Genesis 2:18): "The Lord God said: It is not good that the man should be alone; I ...
We all do it, usually for about a third of our lives. But what's going on when we drift off? Our sages pondered this deeply. In Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic commentari...
The ancient rabbis did! And they weren't shy about asking some pretty direct questions. Let's take a peek into a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic ...
As always, the rabbis of old had some fascinating ideas. The verse from Job (14:20) sets the stage: “You grant him power forever, and he is gone; You alter his countenance and send...
The ancient rabbis grappled with these very human questions as they explored the story of Cain and Abel in Bereshit Rabbah, the great commentary on the Book of Genesis. Specificall...
It’s a question that echoes through the ages, right back to the very beginning. In the Book of Genesis (4:17), we read: “Cain was intimate with his wife and she conceived, and gave...
In fact, it delves into the idea of divine restraint, of God actively preventing the world from being destroyed by, well, wind. We find this idea explored in Bereshit Rabbah 24, a ...
This week, we're diving into a passage from Bereshit Rabbah 26, a rich collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, that wrestles with this very question. The ver...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, we find a fascinating discussion about the depth of that relationship. Rabbi Yoḥanan, R...
